Human Rights Committee Adopts Report on Follow-Up to Concluding Observations on Belgium, Czechia, Mauritania and Nigeria

The Human Rights Committee this morning adopted a report on follow-up to concluding observations on Belgium, Czechia, Mauritania and Nigeria.

Imeru Tamerat Yigezu, Committee Expert and Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, presented the assessment of the responses provided by Belgium, Czechia, Mauritania and Nigeria.  The overall recommended action for all four assessments was to send a letter to each of the States parties informing them of the discontinuation of the follow-up procedure and that further information requested by the Committee in this report should be addressed in their next periodic reports, which were due in 2028 for all four States parties. 

Regarding Belgium, the Committee welcomed the operationalisation of the Federal Institute for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, but regretted the lack of progress in streamlining competencies and increasing collaboration between the Institute and sectoral institutions and federated entities.  The Committee took note of the State party’s updated policy on the repatriation of children born to Belgian nationals who were in conflict zones and welcomed the repatriation of a significant number of children and their mothers under the policy.  While welcoming the expansion of the use of alternatives to detention of migrants, the Committee recommended that legislative measures be implemented to prohibit the detention of migrants, especially families, pregnant women and children.

Concerning Czechia, the Committee welcomed the amendment of the legal regulation on health services to abolish the use of closed restraint beds and that an amendment of the Health Care Services Act was in preparation.  The Committee was concerned by reports that other forms of restraints had increased and requested Czechia to provide statistical data on the number of complaints of abuses received during the reporting period, and their outcomes.  Czechia should ensure that detention under the Foreign Nationals Act was only applied as a measure of last resort; ensure effective implementation of alternatives to detention in practice; move to end the detention of all children; and revise relevant regulations, in accordance with international standards.  The Committee was also concerned that the number of detentions, including of children, had increased from 2019 to 2021 and that the number of alternatives to detention greatly decreased between 2019 and 2021.

Turning to Mauritania, the Committee regretted that no new measures had been taken to implement the recommendation on the fight against impunity, since the adoption of its concluding observations.  The Committee welcomed the adoption of a bill on combatting violence against women and girls on 6 May 2020, which would make female genital mutilation punishable by law in all cases, but was concerned that the bill had yet to be adopted by the National Assembly.  Reports indicated that child marriage was still widely practiced and that government-backed bills seeking to amend the Personal Status Code to prohibit marriage under the age of 18 years had been unsuccessful.  The Committee reiterated its recommendations to amend the Personal Status Code, to prohibit marriage under the age of 18 years, without exception, and to take all necessary steps to eliminate child marriage.  It also reiterated its recommendation that Mauritania should release all human rights defenders who were being arbitrarily detained.
          
Concerning Nigeria, the Committee welcomed efforts made to reduce maternal, perinatal and child mortality and to scale-up the provision of quality family services throughout the State party.  However, it regretted the lack of information provided on steps taken to review legislation concerning abortion.  The Committee was also concerned by reports of increased communal violence committed by herders and Islamic groups on civilians and of the continued level of impunity of such acts. The Committee reiterated its recommendation to investigate all acts of inter-ethnic violence, and requested further information on the draft national policy.  While welcoming the Countering Violent Extremism Programme, the Committee was concerned by reports that little impact had been seen on the ground and that violence was increasing.  Nigeria needed to conduct investigations into allegations of human rights abuses committed in the context of the conflict with Boko Haram.

The draft report on follow-up to concluding observations was adopted by the Committee as amended during the discussion and will be available on the web page dedicated to the follow-up procedure for concluding observations.

The Committee will next meet at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 2 November to present a progress report on follow-up to Views.



Link: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2023/11/le-comite-des-droits-de-lhomme-se-penche-sur-le-suivi-de-ses

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